There's more to life at Bethel than classes & seminars

Beyond the green is a place students to share the joys and hardships of being a Thresher.

Mudslam, AKA The Dirtiest Volleyball You Have Ever Played

Mod Life: Finding Fun Amidst Stress

The End of a Tennis Season

This past weekend were the conference tournaments for the men's and women's tennis teams. Unfortunately, neither team made it to nationals but that does not discount the great and successful seasons they had.

It’s getting to the point in the semester where seniors are starting to panic a bit over what they’ll be doing after graduation. Many of us have found jobs and/or housing for the summer, and some have found both for the fall as well. Quite a few of us will be entering voluntary service of some sort in the fall, while others are getting married or starting careers. Among my modmates, two are getting married, two have plans for further education in the fall, another has a teaching job lined up, and the rest are continuing their search for employment. I just finalized my plans to move to Oakland, California in the fall to join a Catholic Worker house that works with Latin American immigrants and homeless, so I’m feeling significantly less stress today than I was yesterday!

It’s also the point in the semester when we realize that we’re leaving Bethel. Many of us are ready and can’t wait to walk across the stage. Some, like me, are feeling nostalgic about the last four years, and aren’t quite ready to make the transition. But, ready or not, in two-and-a-half weeks, it will be here. Now we just have a multitude of papers, recitals, concerts, seminars, projects, exams, and finals to squeeze in before that day!

One of Bethel’s most active clubs, Student Alumni Association (SAA), puts on a Grandparents Day open to any grandparents of students. Students provide SAA with the addresses of grandparents and SAA sends out invitations. Grandparents come from all across the area and even from out of state to spend the day learning about what their grandchildren do.

After registering in the morning, grandparents are treated to a sampler of student performances. Then they join their grandchildren for convocation, lunch and possibly afternoon classes.

My grandparents are unusual in the fact that all four of their grandchildren go to Bethel. As an added bonus they are also Bethel grads themselves and huge fans of everything Bethel.

Grandparents day is an important way for students to connect with their grandparents and for grandparents to learn about the college.

Spring brings on many stresses with projects, concerts, seminars and finals looming on the horizon, but one week has all sorts of fun activities as well. Spring Fling week consists of various fun activities like a water fight, an Iron Chef competition, powderpuff football, a movie awards competition and last but definitely not least, Mudslam.

Mudslam is a mud volleyball tournament open to all students, faculty, staff and alumni. Teams of 8 with 6 playing at a time face off in the mud pit. With 28 teams this year, the tournament took most of the afternoon on Sunday. There is always a make-up date in case of rain or extreme cold, but we played in some pretty cold weather this year.

Since a major portion of campus participates, the emphasis is less on athletic ability and more on having fun getting very dirty. The mud proves difficult to have an actual game happen. The winners get a 50 dollar Pizza Hut gift card for winning, so there is an incentive to play well.

It’s Senior Seminar Season!! That wonderful time of the year when the campus community is invited to a variety of presentations with titles such as:

Personality and Perspective: The Effects of Having a Sibling with a Disability

Branding in Higher Education and Its Effective Application in Television Advertisement: A Bethel College Case Study

A simple analysis of trends in giving

Erasure: a process of creation through destruction

Revision and the Writing Workshop: Editing Our Selves as Therapy

The Effectiveness of Retrofit Wall Insulation Using a Bethel College Dormitory as an Example

Peace or Persecution? Mennonites in the Holocaust

The Panama Canal and the United States-Panamanian Relations It Created

The Use of Morpholino Oligos in the Controlled Gene Expression of Prion Protein (PrP-1) in Danio rerio

2D Video Game Landscaping: From Generation to on-the-fly Isometrism

Gathering ‘Round to Vision the Future: A Closer Look at Western District Conference and South Central Conference’s Reactions to the Gather ‘Round Sunday School Curriculum and the Next Denominational Curriculum

“9:00 appointments. It’s time for 9:00 appointments. Proceed to the gym if you have a 9:00 appointment. ”

I joined the crowd of professionally dressed college students rushing down the hall to the gym. The crowd was nervously straightening skits and blazers as they tried to smile at classmates while sizing up the competition moving down the hall with them. It was ACCK’s [Associated Colleges of Central Kansas which Bethel is a part of] annual Teacher Interview Day.

We were told that registration for Teacher Interview Day would open on a certain day at 5:00pm. I made sure I was home early that day, sitting in front of my computer, and logged onto the website at 5:00 sharp (registration didn’t open until 5:02 according to the clock in my kitchen and on my computer by the way). I had already looked through the list of school districts that would be at the event to see who I would be interested in meeting with. In class we were told to sign up for as many interviews as possible in order to get our names out and gain experience interviewing. I decided that 9 interviews would really be enough for me even though we could sign up for more.

Bethel’s motto of “Seek, serve, grow” is lived out by its students every day, but every spring we set out one day to focus on the middle of that motto. On Service Day, daytime classes are cancelled so that students, faculty and staff can participate in a variety of service projects.

The projects range from on-campus service to working at Newton area agencies and traditionally a group also goes out to Camp Mennoscah, a Mennonite church camp about an hour away.

The projects are organized so that students can spend anywhere from one hour to the whole day on a project. The Camp Mennoscah group lasts until late afternoon, while many on campus projects are finished by lunch. This year projects included painting an equipment shed, cleaning windows, painting other things on campus, working at the homeless shelter and women’s shelter, and many others.

While service is not required of students, the community atmosphere highly encourages it. It’s hard to not join in when all of your friends are out giving back to the community!

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged, and a lot has happened. Spring was right on the horizon back already at the end of February and now it’s in full swing. Spring break has come and gone and we are officially on the downhill side of the semester.

This would seem like a good thing, but it actually means that the honeymoon period of each class is over and the time for projects, term papers and cumulative tests is approaching. The library has a growing population each day, and Mojo’s Coffee Bar is gaining customers as some students are realizing the benefits of caffeine when studying for a test.

Seniors are presenting seminars after months of stress, so gradually the campus is becoming a calmer place to be for a week or two before final exams begin. The end is in sight!

This past Friday, sophomore Wes Goodrich hosted a Passover seder for a small group of students. Wes is one of the few Jewish individuals on campus, and he was interested in bringing together a variety of religions and denominations for discussion and a meal. When I arrived, the table had already been set, and food presentation was just starting. The fact that the table was already set (with a tablecloth AND cloth napkins!) was a bit startling for a student who eats nearly every meal buffet-style in the Cafeteria. Once everyone had been seated, Wes recited a Hebrew blessing and lit the candles on the table. We then passed around a plate of matzoh crackers (flat crackers symbolizing the unleaved bread baked by Hebrew slaves as they fled Egypt), green bean pate to spread on the matzoh, gefilte fish and horseradish, a relish plate, couscous, baked chicken, and some incredibly delicious asparagus. There was also matzoh ball soup, apples and cheese, and a chocolate cake for dessert. During the meal, we caught up on each other’s lives, discussed our classes, issues on campus, and just had a good time in general. This meal was a prime example of the kind of community that occurs at Bethel – students preparing and eating a meal together in a mutually respectful space, recognizing differences and commonalities, and enjoying each other’s company. Read More

Bethel’s Spring Break was last week. It was a really nice break from studying and the semester, and students were definitely ready for it. Midterms had been occurring for the week prior to break, and many seniors were working hard on their seminar project. Everyone was pretty stressed out, so it was good to get off campus and away from homework (mostly) for a week.

I and three friends left on Friday evening for a 30 hour drive to Fresno, California. Our friend Seth had lived there, and they were going to see his family. I was planning to take the Amtrak train on up to San Francisco to see my boyfriend, Ben. We drove through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to get there. Aside from a flat tire in Albuquerque, our trip was relatively uneventful. We got to see the stars in the middle of New Mexico at 3am, sunrise over Albuquerque, a snowstorm, a sandstorm, and a lot of beautiful scenery. Once we arrived in Fresno, we hung out with Seth’s family and visited their church. My friends stayed with them for the remainder of the week while I hopped on a train to San Francisco on Sunday afternoon.

Spring break was a much needed break. A week away from homework, papers, practice, etc.

Coming back is a completely different thing. We have about 8 weeks left and it is slowly sinking in that all of our big projects are coming up. In the coming weeks I have a big book report due, a monologue performance, a 10 page paper, 2 big presentations. I am thankful that I only have one class this semester that is requiring a actual test final. But all these projects can also be stressful.

So coming back from break one of the first things I have found I have to do is get organized. If I am not organized these things will get stressful.

Categories

About Us

Bethel College is a four-year, private, primarily residential, liberal arts college. Students may participate in campus spiritual life, fine arts activities, sports and more than 50 clubs and organizations. Bethel’s academic buildings, including its historic Administration Building, the Krehbiel Science Center and the James A. Will Family Academic Center, are clustered around the Green, an open grassy area where students gather. The college year consists of fall and spring semesters, a January interterm and a summer term.